Integrated high side switches are used in a wide variety of electronic applications. For example, within automotive applications high side switches are used to control airbags, power control units, alternator regulators, window lift applications, injectors control, etc.
Silicon on insulator (SOI) technology refers to the use of a layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing, especially microelectronics, to reduce parasitic device capacitance. However, in non-SOI (bulk) technology integrated circuit (IC) devices, parasitic npn and pnp transistors can unintentionally trigger ‘on’, degrading IC performances especially when electromagnetic interference (EMI) or electrostatic discharge (ESD) disturbances are applied to the circuit. In particular, such unintentional triggering ‘on’ of parasitic npn/pnp transistors within integrated high side switches can cause bootstrap capacitors to discharge during an idle mode, resulting in bulk current injection (BCI) failure.